Cutbacks raise key question: who should pay for security costs of festivals in La Mesa?

By Miriam Raftery

December 15, 2015 (La Mesa)—La Mesa Mayor Mark Arapostathis joined with students from Peter Pan Junior Theatre to sing carols amid holiday lighting in the downtown village at La Mesa Shimmers—a special event held December 9^th to celebrate completion of the downtown streetscape construction project and reopening of the historic district.

The event was notably separate from the La Mesa Village Merchants Association’s  Christmas in the Village held December 11 and 12. This year, the merchants’ festival was dramatically scaled back due to lack of funds to shut down streets, leading some residents to ask why the city expects merchants to shoulder the full burden of police and security costs for celebrations that benefit the citizenry as well as local shopkeepers--particularly after construction hurt merchants' businesses for the past year.

By Miriam Raftery

December 16, 2015 (San Diego)—By a unanimous vote, the San Diego City Council  on Tuesday enacted a plan to address climate change that may be the most ambitious in the nation. The plan sets a goal for the city to attain 100 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2035, also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in 2020 and 50 percent by 2035.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer told Councilmembers, “We are a city where the quality of the environment is essential to our quality of life.”  Faulconer said the plan will create jobs and preserve the city’s leadership in the clean-tech industry, also improving public health and air quality, reducing dependence on imported water, and increasing use of clean energy.

Climate Action Campaign announced the San Diego is the largest American city to commit to producing all of its energy from renewable resources.

Source: County News Service

December 15, 2015 (San Diego)--County Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to seek rapid deployment of state inmate work crews if El Niño packs a punch in the coming months.

The board voted to approve Supervisor Dianne Jacob’s proposal to team up with Cal Fire and ensure that the region’s nearly 500 work crew inmates are quickly available to assist with flood prevention and cleanup.

By Miriam Raftery

December 14, 2015 (San Diego)--A rare but serious birth defect in Brazil has been linked to a mosquito—the Aedes aegypti species, which has recently been found in San Diego County.

This type of mosquito was already known to carry diseases such as Yellow Fever, dengue fever, chikungunya and the Zika virus.  But now the Zika virus is suspected of causing microencephaly, a rare neurological disorder that results in infants having small heads and underdeveloped brains, resulting in severe developmental issues. The mosquito bites an expectant mother, transmitting the disease to her unborn child.  Babies born with this illness are likely to die young and require constant care.

East County News Service

December 12, 2015 (Spring Valley ) – Institute for Public Strategies invites you to the third community meeting on alcohol-related harm in Casa De Oro.  

At the last meeting in November, members decided to create a formal community group and will choose a name at the next meeting, which is set for Thursday, December 17 from 6 to 8 p.m.  The meeting will be held at the Young Actors’ Theater, 9628 Campo Road, Suite J in Spring Valley.

By Miriam Raftery

December 10, 2015 (La Mesa) – Helix Water District has received the “District Transparency Certificate of Excellence” from the Special District Leadership Foundation (SDLF), a nonprofit that promotes special districts that excel in governance and management.

Ironically, however, just one week after that announcement, Helix board president DeAna Verbeke asked staff not to renew the district’s membership in the California Special Districts Association (CSDA), which supports the SDLF and its goals.  The CSDA promotes good governance and improved local services for independent special districts(such as water and fire boards) that deliver public services.

Source: U.S.. Customs and Border Patrol

December 10, 2015 (Otay Mesa)--U.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin testing new biometric technology at the Otay Mesa pedestrian crossing this week to enhance identification of certain non-U.S. citizens entering and exiting the U.S. CBP uses biometrics in order to accurately verify who arrives in the United States and who leaves.

By Miriam Raftery

December 10, 2015 (Sacramento) – Helix Water District board member Kathleen Hedberg spoke at a public workshop in Sacramento held by the State Water Resources Control Board on Monday.  Hedberg urged the Board to revise  current emergency regulations that mandate huge water cuts statewide and to take into consideration water districts where customers have already been conserving.

In an impassioned plea, she noted that Helix customers already cut use and have exceeded the mandate, but that this has forced many to allow trees and shrubs to die. She noted that the district has invested in increasing water supply and has adequate water to meet customer needs.

"My constituents and Helix Water District customers are outraged and frustrated that they have paid for water supply, storage and reliability projects and we are being told to cut back on water use even when we have enough water as we prepared for drought times and the future," Hedberg testified. Below are her full comments to the Board, along with her assessment of mixed reactions received from state regulators:

By Miriam Raftery

December 8, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Hoverboards are hot gift items this season—in more ways than one. The National Association of Fire Marshals has issued a warning about fire dangers after numerous hoverboards, or electronic scooters without handles, burst into flames in the U.S. and abroad.

By Miriam Raftery

December 6, 2015 (La Mesa) – La Mesa’s City Council will consider an ordinance Tuesday that would ban mobile dispensing and delivery of marijuana. Medical marijuana clinics are already illegal in the city and voters recently rejected a measure that would have allowed them, however a number of clinics have sprung up despite that ban, offering home delivery services.

The La Mesa Council meets at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, December 8^th. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Syed Rizwan Farook

December 4, 2015 (San Bernardino)—Evidence emerging in the mass shooting at a San Bernardino social services center yesterday  points to terrorism as the apparent motive. 

Syed Rizwan Farook, an American Muslim born in Chicago, and his Pakistani bride, Tashfeen Malik, dropped their baby off with a grandparent before donning assault gear and opening fire using assault weapons at an office holiday party. The barrage left 14 people dead and 21 injured.  Both suspects were later killed in a firefight with law enforcement after fleeing the scene in an SUV.  Malik pledged allegiance to ISIS, the Islamic State, on Facebook the very day of the attack, the New York Times reports, citing an unnamed official.  It is not yet known if the attack was directed by ISIS or if the terrorists acted independently, inspired by ISIS.

Officials suspect Farook became radicalized by Islamic extremists. He had had been in touch with at least one individual monitored as a possible terror suspect, a senior federal government official reportedly told the Los Angeles Times, adding that there could be a “deeper terror matrix” behind yesterday’s massacre. Authorities have not ruled out a workplace violence motivation potentially in combination with terrorism.

East County News Service

December 3, 2015 (El Cajon)--Join city leaders in El Cajon to learn about potential impacts from a severe El Nino winter and how to create a plan to be prepared.  The El Nino community preparedness forum will be held December 9 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Police Department’s community room, 100 Civic Center Way in El Cajon.

Learn what the city is doing to prepare and respond, as well as what you can do before, during and after a flood.

San Diego social services centers closed through Friday as precaution after attacks

By Miriam Raftery

Updated December 3, 2015 with additional information on the shooters.

December 2, 2015 (San Bernadino) – Suspects armed with assault weapons, wearing body armor and masks opened fire inside the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, a a government facility that provides services to the developmentally disabled.

At least 14 people are dead and 17 more are wounded, National Public Radio reports. Some of the victims were attending a holiday party in the building. The suspects also planted three bombs strung together that a robot was deployed to destroy. 

Suspects fled the scene in a black SUV.  Later a police pursuit ended in a firefight and the fatal shooting of two suspects outside a residence in Redlands. One was a man identified as Sayed Rizwan Farook, 28, a U.S. citizen born in Chicago.  The other was his wife,Tashfeen Malik, 27, who was born in Pakistan and recently lived in Saudi Arabia.  A third individual attempted to flee and has been detained.

By Miriam Raftery

Photos: U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

November 29, 2015 (San Diego) - The San Diego City and County region now has the fourth largest homeless population in the United States – and almost half (48%) are sleeping on the streets, or camping along riverbeds or other outdoor places with no shelter from the elements. Only New York City, Los Angeles, and Seattle have more homeless people than our county.

 “Tackling climate change is a shared mission for mankind.” – Chinese president Xi Jinping

“We are at the limits of suicide.” – Pope Francis

“Our nations share a sense of urgency about this challenge and a growing realization that it is within our power to do something about it.” – U.S. President Barack Obama

By Miriam Raftery

November 30, 2015 (Paris) –Around the world, an estimated million people took to the streets to call for action to save the planet as world leaders convene today in Paris for an international climate summit. But in Paris, where large public gatherings are banned due to a state of emergency declared after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks, thousands of Parisians instead brought their shoes, lining them up along the march route in a silent yet powerful expression.

French President Francois Hollande said he cannot separate the “fight with terrorism from the fight against global warming,” adding that leaders must face both challenges to leave children “a world freed of terror” as well as one “protected from catastrophes.”